This eBook was produced by Tapio Riikonen
and David Widger
There was great rejoicing in England. King Edward had been induced tosend Alred the prelate [139] to the court of the German Emperor, forhis kinsman and namesake, Edward Atheling, the son of the greatIronsides. In his childhood, this Prince, with his brother Edmund,had been committed by Canute to the charge of his vassal, the King ofSweden; and it has been said (though without sufficient authority),that Canute's design was, that they should be secretly made away with.The King of Sweden, however, forwarded the children to the court ofHungary; they were there honourably reared and received. Edmund diedyoung, without issue. Edward married a daughter of the GermanEmperor, and during the commotions in England, and the successivereigns of Harold Harefoot, Hardicanute, and the Confessor, hadremained forgotten in his exile, until now suddenly recalled toEngland as the heir presumptive of his childless namesake. He arrivedwith Agatha his wife, one infant son, Edgar, and two daughters,Margaret and Christina.
Great were the rejoicings. The vast crowd that had followed the royalvisitors in their procession to the old London palace (not far fromSt. Paul's) in which they were lodged, yet swarmed through thestreets, when two thegns who had personally accompanied the Athelingfrom Dover, and had just taken leave of him, now emerged from thepalace, and with some difficulty made their way through the crowdedstreets.
The one in the dress and short hair imitated from the Norman,—was ourold friend Godrith, whom the reader may remember as the rebuker ofTaillefer, and the friend of Mallet de Graville; the other, in a plainlinen Saxon tunic, and the gonna worn on state occasions, to which heseemed unfamiliar, but with heavy gold bracelets on his arms, longhaired and bearded, was Vebba, the Kentish thegn, who had served asnuncius from Godwin to Edward.
"Troth and faith!" said Vebba, wiping his brow, "this crowd is enow tomake plain roan stark wode. I would not live in London for all thegauds in the goldsmith's shops, or all the treasures in King Edward'svaults. My tongue is as parched as a hay-field in the weyd-month.[140] Holy Mother be blessed! I see a Cumen-hus [141] open; let usin and refresh ourselves with a horn of ale."
"Nay, friend," quoth Godrith, with a slight disdain, "such are not theresorts of men of our rank. Tarry yet awhile, till we arrive near thebridge by the river-side; there, indeed, you will find worthy companyand dainty cheer."
"Well, well, I am at your hest, Godrith," said the Kent man, sighing;"my wife and my sons will be sure to ask me what sights I have seen,and I may as well know from thee the last tricks and ways of thisburly-burly town."
Godrith, who was master of all the fashions in the reign of our lordKing Edward, smiled graciously, and the two proceeded in silence, onlybroken by the sturdy Kent man's exclamations; now of anger when rudelyjostled, now of wonder and delight when, amidst the throng, he caughtsight of a gleeman, with his bear or monkey, who took advantage ofsome space near convent garden, or Roman ruin, to exhibit his craft;till they gained a long low row of booths, most pleasantly situated tothe left of this side London bridge, and which was appropriated to thecelebrated cookshops, that even to the time of Fitzstephen retainedtheir fame and their fashion.
Between the shops and the river was a space of gras